Grain-car door.



C. A. SNOOK. GRAIN OAR DOOR.

APPLICATION FILED 00T.2, 1912.

Patented June 16, 1914.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

- Iill/,1| l [11H11 14eme Cul-IIIA WIA?" C0.. WAIIIING'I'DN, D. C..

C. A. SNOOK.`

GRAIN GAR DOOR.

COLUMBIA PLANDGRAPH cO..w\SN|NOTON. D. c.

- UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CASSIUS A. SNOOK, OF FORT DODGE, IOWA.

GRAIN-GAR DOOR.

rl i

i o all whom it may concern Be it known that I, CAssiUs A. SNooK, citizen of the United States, residing at Fort Dodge, in the county of Viebster and State of Iowa, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Grain- Car Doors, of which the following is a speciiication.

This invention relates to an improvement in grain car doors.

The yprimary object of the invention is to provide a sectional grain car door in which the sections may be folded upon each other and supported at the top of the car when the door is not in use.

A further object of the invention is to provide a hinge mechanism to connect the upper and lower sections of the doorwhich will maintain the sections in position when the door is in its closed position and which so disposes one edge of the door beyond the other when it is in its folded position as to provide a latch engaging portion.

A further object of the invention is to so position the edge of one door section beyond the edge of the other door section that the same will prevent the buckling of the doors and prevent the grain from passing between the same. And a still further object of the invention is to provide v a grain car door which may be opened with much less ef 'fort than is required to open doors of a similar type, as now constructed.

In the drawings: Figure 1 is an elevation, the door being shown in its closed position, the view being taken from the inside of the car. Fig. 2 is a transverse section taken through the car, the door being shown in its folded position; Fig. 3 is a section taken on the line 3 8 of Fig. 1; Fig. 4 is an edge elevation of the hingedly connected edges of the sections showing the arrangement of the hinges, which connect the door sections and the hinges which support the supplemental door; Fig. 5 is a detail view showing the arrangement of the locking plates; Fig. 6 is a view showing a modified form of the locking plate construction; Fig. 7 is an edge elevation showing the supplemental door in raised position, its lower terminal being secured to the upper door section.

In the drawings, 10 designates the upper door section across the upper end portion of which is secured a transversely disposed angle bar 11. Rods 12 are secured to the un- Specication of Letters Patent.

Application led October 2, 1912.

Patented June 16, 1914.

Serial No. 723,603.

der faceof the lateral flange 13 of said bar adyacent its ends, each rod extending beyond the bar and terminating in an eye 14. A guide or keeper' 15 is secured at each side of the door, each guide being formed with ott'- set terminals 16 at its ends which have their extension 16 secured to the door frame, the upper terminals in each instance being longer than the lower terminals to dispose the intermediate portions of the guides obliquely with respect to the beams 18 of the door frame. The eyes 14 of the upper door receive the guides 15 in this manner to support it for vertical movement with respect to the door casing, the eyes sliding on the keepers 15,- as shown, and passing over and rest ing upon the upper offset portions of said guides or keepers when the door is in raised position, as shown in Fig. 2.

The lower door section 19 is hingedly con. nected to the upper door section, the hinge connection being hereinafter more fully described, and both door sections are held against lateral movement when in closed po sition by sliding plates 20 carried by the beams 18 one adjacent each vertical edge of each of the door sections. These plates 2()v are provided with elongated slots 21 which receive pins 22, said pins extending through the slots and having heads which engage with the outer faces of the plates. Each of the slots is provided at its terminals with offsets 23 which receive the pins to lock the plates either in extended or retracted position. The plates when extended, engage over the edge portions of the doors but may be retracted to permit opening of the doors, when desired.

In Fig. 1 of the drawings, the upper locking plates which are active to the upper door section are shown extended to engage said section while the lower plates are retracted to release the lower door section.

By this construction, the door sections are held against inward movement with respect to the door frame, the side edges of both door sections being supported throughout their entire length. In the form shown in Fig. 5, the door post 18 vis provided with a vertically disposed strip 47 onwhich the plate 20 is slidably mounted, the pins 22 passing through said strip and the vertical edge of the door engaging against the adjacent edge of the strip 47. In the formV shown in Fig. 6, the door post 18 is provided with a recess 48 which receives the vertical edge of the door, the plate 2O being supported by the post 18 and the recess 48 receiving the edge of the door.

The door sections are each provided adjacent their meeting edges with angle bars secured to the inner faces o t' the sections.

The angle bar 24, which is secured to the lower door section, has its portion 25 spaced from the upper edge 2G of the door section. The angle bar 27, which is secured to the upper door section, has its corresponding portion 28 extended beyond the lower edge 29 of said section so that when the doors are in closed position, the portion 28 of the angle bar 27 overlaps the lower door section, bearing against the upper portion of the inner face thereof, while the portion 25 of the bar 24 extends parallel and adjacent thereto in such a manner that the door sections are held from inward movement until the lower door is swung upwardly. Thus the edge of the lo-wer door section overlaps the portion 28 ot the angle bar ot the upper door section and all buckling of the sections or passage of grain between the same is prevented.

The angle bars 24 and 27 are connected by a plurality of hinges, any suitable number being employed depending upon the size andY weight of the door sections. Each hinge consists of plates 30 which are provided with arcuate tongues 31, the terminals of which are bent to form pintle bearings and pintle pins 38 are passed through the bearings of co-acting pairs of hinge plates to hingedly connect the door section. However, one continuous rod or pintle bearing may be employed to connect all of the hinge members, if preferred. This construction permits the inward and upward swinging of the lower door section into a plane substantially parallel to that of the upper door section, the portion 33 of the angle bar 24 then extending beneath the portion 34 of the angle bar 27 of the upper door section.

The lower door section is provided with a door opening to receive a supplemental door 52 which is hingedly connected to the outer face of the main lower door section. The hinge connection in this case is similar to that above described and consists of hinge plates 42 secured to the upper portion of the supplemental door 52 and hinge plates 39 secured to the lower door section 19, the

; curved tongues of these hinge plates embracing pintles 41. Any suitable number of these hinges may be employed and the pintle pins may be replaced by a continuous rod or shaft, if desired.

The supplemental door is normally held vin closed position by buttons 54, the eceenn trically formed Shanks 55 of which extend 'through thedoor and carry levers 56 upon their ree ends by means of which the buttons may be turned into and out of engagement with vertically disposed brace strips 57 which are secured to the inner face of the lower door section at either side of the supplemental door opening and with the angle har 57 which extends transversely across the base of the lower door section.

The supplemental door engages, when in closed position, against the upper and lower angle bars of the lower door section and against the vertical brace strips disposed at the edges of the supplemental door opening, thereby providing a grain tight closure. To open the supplemental door, the levers 56 are rotated to swing the buttons out of contact with the strips 57 and angle bar 57 and the door is then swung on its hinges. The supplemental door may be maintained in raised position by passing one of the levers 56 beneath abracket 3G carried by the upper door section and the odset portion 37 of which forms a keeper to receive said level'.

Then the upper and lower door sections are folded to assume a position parallel to each other and are raised to the position shown in Fig. 2, the upper door section extends beyond the hinge connection of the two sections and is engaged and held in open position by a latch member 38. This latch member is provided with an upwardly directed projection which in operation passes through an opening formed in that portion of the lower door section which is overlapped by the angle bar 27 when the doors are closed.

From the foregoing description, it will be seen that when the door is in its closed position, the outer surface of the sections will be coextensive, the upper edge of the lower section resting against the portion 28 of the angle bar 27 of the upper section to prevent buckling of the sections and to provide a grain tight joint.

In opening the door, the lower door section is swung inwardly and upwardly to bear against the inner face of the upper door section and bot-h sections are then raised until the eyes 14 pass upon the upper extensions 16 of the guides 15 when the door sections are simultaneously swung inwardly and upwardly to the position shown in Fig. 2 of the drawings, the supporting eyes of the upper door section passing outwardly along the extensions 16 of the guides to support the door sections at one end, while the automatic latch member 38 engages the lower door section to hold the opposite ends of the doors in place. Because of this the two door sections, that is the door as a whole, need he manually raised but a slight distance vertically, whereas in doors of the usual type the entire door must be raised through a distance usually equal to at least half the height of the door opening. Moreover, the upper door section is normally held at a suiiicient height to permit the person raising the door to push directly upward against its lower edge instead of having to reach down and pull the door up as is usual.

Many other 4advantages derived by this type of door construction will be clearly apparent as it will be noted that the sections which constitute the door may be readily folded when the doo-r is not in use, that the hinge connection between the door sections is such as effectually' to brace the sections when the door is closed, and that the General construction is such that the various parts may be easily and economically manufactured and readily assembled.

Having described the invention, what I claim is:

l. A grain car door includingsections disposed one above the other, the upper section being supported for a vertical and a swinging movement, angle bars supported adjacent the meeting longitudinal edges of the sections, the angle bar of one of the sections extending beyond the edge portion of the section and disposed when the door is in closed position to support the edge portion of the adjacent section, and a hinge connection between said angle bars.

2. A grain car door including upper and lower sections formed of sheet metal, angle bars extending transversely across the upper and lower edges of each section, co-acting hinge members carried by the adjacent angle bars of the sections and hingedly connecting the sections, and guide engaging arms carried by the angle bar of the upper end of the upper section.

3. A grain car door comprising sections disposed one above the other, the upper section being supported for a vertical and swinging movement, angle bars secured to the meeting edges of the sections, the angle bar of the upper section projecting beyond the edge of the section, the angle bar of the lower section being spaced from its edge portion, said edge, when the doors are closed, contacting with the angle bar of the upper section, and members supported by the angle bars, said members being connected to form a hinged connection between the sections.

In testimony whereof I alix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

CASSIUS A. SNOOK. [n s] Witnesses L. H. ALGER, JOHN H. BROWN.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for ve cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G." 

